"She's concerned," he said. "The day I went to get the MRI, I almost didn't want to tell her."

Fujita had neck surgery in 1999 and said Friday he was grateful to play another 13 years "relatively pain free."

Now, he doesn't want to risk another operation. And much as it will pain him to leave his teammates and the game he loves, Fujita is smart enough to know that one more ill-placed hit could haunt him the rest of his life.

"I've got to be honest, when I had the neck surgery in college, I assumed there were going to be problems in my future anyway, it's just the reality of what we do," he said. "So I'd like to not make those problems any worse."